Here is another interesting way to show how pathetic the Rangers offense was this last season and how great Henrik Lundqvist and the defense were. It is done by looking at the team Corsi Rating. The Corsi Rating or Number is named after current Buffalo Sabres Goaltending Coach, Jim Corsi. Corsi devised his rating system as an alternative to the traditional +/- rating.
The Rangers had a team Corsi Rating of -41 for the 2009/10 season, that ranked 18th in the league. This last 2010/11 season it dropped even lower to -116, 20th in the league. So by this measure the offense was worse.
However, this last season the team made the playoffs, but they did not in the prior 2009/10 season. The improvement from 2009/10 to 2010/11 can all be attributed to Henrik Lundquist's great goaltending and the very solid defensive play in front of him.
This Corsi Rating is also prime evidence that all of the offensive line changes that coach John Tortorella made over the course of last season proved to be worthless. In fact, they made things worse, and did not help the offense a whiff. Maybe Torts should just give up on the line shuffling, go to the trap, and truly become the NY Ranvils. His gut has certainly proven it is not an offensive genius.
Memo to Torts:
Lock down your line combinations early and let'em ride, Maestro.
Team Corsi Ratings --
This is the difference between attempted shots (shots on goal, missed shots and blocked shots) for and against for the different teams at 5 on 5. These numbers do a very good job of capturing how well various teams do at puck possession. Better Corsi ratings mean better puck possession.
Of course puck possession is not everything in hockey. A team can do significantly better or worse as a result of goaltending, special teams or other reasons. Generally teams that do significantly better or worse in the standings than their Corsi ratings show cannot keep it up the next season...
2010/11 Team Corsi Ratings
Rank
Team
Corsi
1 San Jose Sharks +505 2 Detroit Red Wings +469 3 Chicago Blackhawks +403 4 Pittsburgh Penguins +378
19 Nashville Predators -113 20 New York Rangers -116 21 Philadelphia Flyers -120
The New York Rangers and Philadelphia... They were both playoff teams. The Rangers exceeded their Corsi on the strength of Henrik Lundqvist’s goaltending. Philadelphia was a bit more of a fluke. They didn’t have strong goaltending. Big changes were made in Philadelphia in the off season, so it will be hard to directly compare with next year, but they were not as good as their standing showed last year, so the team can be improved talentwise and still wind up with fewer points. However, I don’t think they have improved their talent levels, so this team could drop a bit...related:
Jasper's Rink:
A Brief Intro To The Corsi Number
Inside Hockey:
The Corsi Rating and Zone Start
The Stanley Cup winning Boston Bruins, America's team, only had 2 Americans and 17 Canadians on it. The Vancouver Canuncks, Canada's team, had 6 Americans and 17 Canadians.
The Rangers will be a team with a bunch of American born players: Dubinsky, Callahan, Boyle, McDonagh, Rupp, Sauer, Stephan. Hoo..rah...
Nice Rant: Amerida!
via the GoonBlog
0 comments:
Post a Comment